AT&T Park

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AT&T Park
Pac Bell Park, The Phone Booth, Telephone Park
Location	24 Willie Mays Plaza San Francisco, California 94107
Broke ground	December 11, 1997
Opened	March 31, 2000
Owner	China Basin Ballpark Corp. (San Francisco Giants subsidiary)
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$357 million
Architect	HOK Sport
Former names
Pacific Bell Park (2000-2003) SBC Park (2004-2005)
Tenants
San Francisco Giants (NL) (2000-present) San Francisco Demons (XFL) (2001) Emerald Bowl (2002-present)
Capacity
40,930 (2000) 41,059 (2001) 41,503 (2004) 1,500 standing room capacity
Dimensions
Left Field - 339 ft / 103 m Left-Center - 364 ft / 111 m Deep Left-Center - 404 ft / 123 m Center Field - 399 ft / 122 m Deep Right-Center - 421 ft / 128 m Right-Center - 365 ft / 111 m Right Field - 309 ft / 94 m

AT&T Park (formerly SBC Park and Pacific Bell Park) is an open-air baseball stadium, home to the San Francisco Giants of the National League. The park also pays host to the Emerald Bowl, a College football bowl game, every year. The park is located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of 3rd Street and King Street in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California.

The stadium was officially renamed AT&T Park on March 1, 2006, just two years after it adopted the SBC Park name. SBC Communications, the flagship sponsor of the park, rebranded itself as AT&T Inc. when it merged with AT&T Corp. in late 2005. This marks the second renaming for the park since its opening in 2000.

[edit] History

Groundbreaking on the ballpark began on December 11, 1997 in the industrial waterfront area of San Francisco known as China Basin and South Beach. The stadium cost $319 million to build and supplanted the Giants' former home, Candlestick Park, a multi-use stadium in southern San Francisco. A team of engineers from UC Davis was consulted in the design process of the park resulting in wind levels that are approximately half those at Candlestick.[1] Fans had shivered through 40 seasons at "The Stick," and looked forward to warmer temperatures at the new ballpark. However, cold summer fog and winter jackets in July are still not unusual at Giants games at AT&T Park, as the stadium like its predecessor is built right on San Francisco Bay. The temperatures though are much warmer and improved.

When it opened on March 31, 2000, the ballpark was the first Major League Baseball stadium built in the U.S. without public funds since the completion of Dodger Stadium in 1962, though the Giants did receive a $10 million tax abatement from the city and $80 million for upgrades to the local infrastructure (including a connection to the Muni Metro) [2]. The Giants have a 66-year lease on the 12.5-acre ballpark site, paying $1.2 million in rent annually to the San Francisco Port Commission [3] [4]. The park opened with a seating capacity of 40,800, but this has increased over time as seats have been added. The opening series took place between April 11, 2000 and April 13, 2000 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where the Giants were swept in 3 games. In the first game of that series, the Giants suffered a 6-5 lost to the Dodgers, highlighted by a three home run day by Kevin Elster.

In just its first few years of existence, the ballpark has seen its share of historic events primarily due to veteran Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. On April 17, 2001, Bonds hit his 500th career home run at then Pacific Bell Park. Later that year, he set the single season home run record when he hit home runs number 71, 72, and 73 over the weekend of October 5th to close the season. On August 9, 2002, Bonds hit his 600th career home run at the park. On April 12, 2004, Bonds hit career home run 660 at SBC Park to tie Willie Mays for third on the all-time list and on the next night, he hit number 661 to move into sole possession of third place. On September 17, 2004, Bonds hit his 700th career home run at the park to become just the third member of baseball's 700 club. On May 28, 2006 Bonds hit his 715th homerun at the park to pass Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time homerun list. The stadium also hosted the 2002 World Series against the Anaheim Angels, which the Giants lost 4 games to 3, and will host the 2007 MLB All-Star Game.

On the facing of the upper deck near left field are the retired numbers of Bill Terry, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Willie Mays, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Jackie Robinson, Willie McCovey, and Gaylord Perry as well as the retired uniforms, denoted "NY", of Christy Mathewson and John McGraw who played or managed in the pre-number era. These two pre-number era retired uniforms are among only six such retired uniforms in all of MLB.

Barry Bonds passes Harmon Killebrew for 7th on all-time homerun list (April 13, 2002), note the sign on the scoreboard saying Pac Bell Park.

Pacific Bell, a local telephone company in the San Francisco Bay Area, purchased the naming rights for the park for $50 million over 24 years when the park opened. Pacific Bell's parent SBC Communications eventually dropped the Pacific Bell name and reached an agreement with the Giants to change the park's name on January 1, 2004. The name change upset some fans, leaving them in the awkward position of desiring the park's former corporate name. After SBC merged with AT&T on November 18, 2005, the name of the merged company became AT&T, Inc. As a result, the stadium was given its third name in six years: "AT&T Park." A few fans still refer to the stadium as "Pac Bell Park", as it was the first name given the stadium. Others have named the stadium "The Phone Booth" or "Telephone Park", for the constant name changes. But many refer to the stadium as, China Basin, for its location, which would be immune to changes in sponsorship naming. The City and CalTrans requires that PacBell / SBC / AT&T reimburse them for costs assocated to change signs on streets, freeways and public transport vehicles.

Giants Enterprises, a wholly owned subsidiary of the San Francisco Giants created and headed by longtime team executive and marketing legend Pat Gallagher, brings non-baseball events to the stadium on days when the Giants do not play. The stadium was home to the XFL San Francisco Demons in 2001, was the home of the Shrine Bowl (until 2006) and is the current home of college football's Emerald Bowl (since 2002). Numerous concerts are also held at the park, including a Bruce Springsteen concert in 2003 and a Green Day performance in 2004.

[edit] Features

The stadium contains 68 luxury suites, 5,200 club seats on the club level and an additional 1,500 club seats at the field level behind home plate.

Splash Hits sign on right field wall

24 foot wall in right field

The most prominent feature of the ballpark is the right field wall, which is 24 feet (7 m) high in honor of former Giant Willie Mays who wore number 24. Because of the proximity to San Francisco Bay, it is only 309 feet (94 m) to the right field foul pole. It is a brick wall, with fenced off arches opening to the cove beyond, above which are the five or so rows of the 'walkway'/promenade seating, and on which wall are displayed scores of other MLB games. The fence angles quickly away from home plate; right-center field extends out to 421 feet (128 m) from home plate. Atop the fence are four pillars with fountains atop. These four pillars will burst jets of water when a Giant hits a home run. To some old-timers, the right field area vaguely suggests the layout at the Polo Grounds. This deep corner of the ballpark has been dubbed "death valley," "triples alley," and most recently, "Finley's Alley" after center fielder Steve Finley. Like its Polo Grounds counterpart, it is very difficult to hit a home run to this area, and a batted ball that finds its way into this corner often results in a triple.

McCovey Cove (2002)

Beyond right field is a section of the bay, dubbed McCovey Cove after famed Giants first baseman Willie McCovey, into which a number of home runs have been hit on the fly. As of August 22, 2006, 41 "Splash Hits" [5] have been knocked into the Bay by Giants players since the park opened; 33 of those were by Barry Bonds. Opponents had hit the Cove on the fly 13 times; Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cliff Floyd of the New York Mets, and Carlos Delgado of the New York Mets are the only visiting players to do so twice. There is a pier where ferries can tie up and let off fans right at the park. And on game days, fans take to the water of McCovey Cove in boats and even in kayaks, often with fishing nets in the hope of collecting a home-run ball. (This echoes what used to happen during McCovey's playing days. Before Candlestick Park's upper deck was extended, the area behind right field was occupied by three small bleacher sections and a lot of open space. Kids in those bleachers would gather behind the right field fence when "Stretch" would come to the plate). Just beyond the wall is a public waterfront promenade, where fans can watch three innings of a game through the wall's archways, free of charge, albeit with a somewhat obstructed view. Across the cove from the ballpark is McCovey Point and China Basin Park, featuring monuments to past Giants legends.

Close up of the old fashioned glove at AT&T Park.

Behind the left field bleachers, the ballpark features an 80 foot (24 m) Coca-Cola bottle with playground slides that will blow bubbles and light up with every Giants home run, and a miniature version of the stadium. Next to the Coke bottle is a giant baseball mitt, a replica of a vintage 1927 glove. Next to that are pitching cages. And further right is the elevator and large plaza area for functions and parties to be held during games. Right-center field features a real San Francisco cable car (retired cable car #4, formerly #504), with a label that states "No Dodgers Fans Allowed", and a fog horn - a feature transferred from Candlestick Park - that blows when a Giants player hits a home run. Continuing right takes one to the promenade above the cove, so that one can make a completely uninterrupted circuit of the park at that concourse level. Both levels of the concourse, inside the stadium, feature not only concession stands of all sorts, but other attractions as well.

In addition to the automated scoreboards, which will include a new HD video board by Mitubishi as of 2007, the park has enormous, manually operated boards down on the center-right field wall, which display the scores of MLB games played elsewhere. These manual scoreboards are operated by three employees, whose work on gamedays starts at least two hours prior to the first pitch.

Outside the ballpark are three statues dedicated to San Francisco Giants all-time greats. The Willie Mays Statue is located in front of the ballpark entrance at Willie Mays Plaza and is surrounded with 24 palm trees, in honor of his jersey #24, retired by the Giants. Another statue is located at McCovey Point across McCovey Cove, and is dedicated to Willie McCovey. A third statue, dedicated in 2005, honors former Giants pitcher Juan Marichal, and is located outside the ballpark at its Lefty O'Doul gate entrance.

Willie Mays Statue in front of AT&T Park (2002)

Starting in 2004, the Giants installed one hundred and twenty-two 802.11b wireless internet access points, covering all concourses and seating areas, creating one of the largest public "hotspots" in the world. The stadium could thus be said to be one of the largest "Internet Cafes."

[edit] See also

49-Mile Scenic Drive

[edit] References

• UC Davis Magazine: Engineering: Taking the Wind Out of Baseball

[edit] External links

• • WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
  • VirtualGlobetrotting maps at VirtualGlobetrotting
  • Close-up color aerial from TerraServer-USA or Google Local
  • Surrounding area map from the United States Census Bureau
• AT&T Park Information (Official SF Giants website)
• Bicycle Parking at AT&T Park
• Recent USGS aerial showing ballpark
• PETA's 2005 Top 10 Vegetarian-Friendly Ballparks

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AT&T Park

Coordinates: 37°46′42.14″N, 122°23′22.88″W